Choosing a Path
by Izzu
Summary: Samurai Sentai Shinkenger: Post episode 12. Ryunosuke pondered about the path he was walking right now. Revised with Omake.


az: Something that I've been wondering to do since Faith and I had been wondering how to relate some of Ryunosuke's motivations using his Kabuki background. So here you go.

ETA: I might have missed some stuffs while beta-ing this fic. So feel free to point out if there's any corrections.

A/N: I've added some extra lines and extra omake scene but if you're reading this fic from my ljcomm post, it would be different, I guess. Unless later internet gets better and I'll be allowed to update that one.

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Disclaimers where it's due.

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Choosing a Path

By Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

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Lord Shiba Takeru took a long breath of air. In the end, it was better being at home... rather than wandering aimlessly in an unfamiliar city and roads; not knowing where to go. Well, he had learnt his lesson already yesterday; not to mention the barrage of lectures Jii had given after all of the partying had ended.

Other than that, it just hit him that he was _that_ unfamiliar with the roads in the city. Aside from the ones that he always used, that is. Lucky no one among the four knew about this or he would probably see no end out of this. Especially Chiaki. That guy probably gonna make jokes about it all day, just for the fun of it. But speaking about that...

_Where's everyone right now? It's already time for training!_

Takeru glanced around impatiently as he started practicing by himself.

"Ah, Tono-sama! I'm very much sorry I'm late!" cried a voice behind him as he turned to find Kotoha, Chiaki, Mako and Jii arrived to the training ground. Mako and Chiaki also extended their greetings and apologies for being late as Takeru just waved them away. Yet he felt something amiss at the lack of one's appearance.

"Eh! Where's Ryunosuke?" Takeru asked nonchalantly.

Jii blinked a few seconds before letting out a gasp as if he had just remembered something.

"Oh... earlier, he told me that he would like to take some time off. Yesterday... it seemed that he had not recuperated properly—"

Takeru frowned. This was not like the usual Ryunosuke that he had grown to know. _Something was up. Besides, Kotoha was here..._

"I find it hard to accept that." said Takeru abruptly before turning towards Kotoha. "Considering that if Kotoha was able to get well enough—was his injuries that bad? But last night—"

Kotoha gave a nervous laugh.

"I guess, Ryuu-san kind of... overexerted himself. He already did yesterday at the—ah! Forget what I've just said!" cried Kotoha suddenly as all attention were drawn towards her. Kotoha looked back at them nervously.

"R-Ryuu-san... said not to tell—" Kotoha squeaked before giving a scared look towards Jii. She bit her lips as Takeru frowned at her.

"W-well... it's about that new combination with Shinken-Oh—"

"Eh?" Chiaki cried. "You mean, yesterday both of you, before we went to fight the Ayakashi—"

Mako gave her a look of disbelief as Takeru went off towards the vassal's quarters with everyone following behind him. To everyone's surprise later, they found Ryunosuke's room empty; lacking the very person who was supposed to be resting here.

xxx

"_YES!"_

"_Yes! We did it! It worked! It worked, Tono hahahaha... woah!"_

Another arrow missed the intended target as Ryunosuke sighed. He had to get that image out of his mind. It had been such an embarrassing moment!

Ryunosuke smiled weakly to himself. For some reason, it just dawned to him how much enthusiasm he had into trying to be the samurai that his parents had always wanted him to be. Almost as much as how he had wanted to become a Kabuki actor.

Ryunosuke released the bow string gently as the arrow swiftly flew towards the target. The Kuroko that had been attending to him passed him another set of arrows as he muttered his thanks towards them.

He had to admit, he was still trying to get used to this kind of life. Just that until yesterday, he never noticed how much he had grown accustomed to this samurai life. Not just about serving Lord Takeru out of his own will but more to trying to do his best while being a samurai serving under him. Even as far as risking his own life in order to keep his lord safe. To think that time, he had not been pondering too much about what he should do. His only thoughts had been just to keep Lord Takeru safe.

Ryunosuke took another arrow again as he took aim again.

Now that he had time to think about the incident properly, he realized that he had somehow acted in a similar way as the other samurai in the past that he had heard about in stories. Or from some of the historical plays that he had heard and seen. Despite the fact he had not even thought of acting that way because of the fact he had been brought up with the knowledge of these historical people. He had done it on instinct.

To think that long time ago, he had been that adamant to not become a samurai and pursue kabuki. And now it seemed, it had almost become second nature for him to become one. Of course not as good a samurai as the Lord but still...

It was as if the path to becoming a good samurai and the path to becoming a good kabuki actor had merged into one continuous path...

"Hah! There you are, Ryunosuke!"

As the voice suddenly interrupted his lines of thought, Ryunosuke jumped in alarm.

xxx

_Finally found him, that idiot._ For some reason, why he was getting all worked up about this? They should have just gone training without this idiot, Takeru thought frustrated before looking behind him to see the others slowly catching up. He glanced back towards Ryunosuke as the guy paused long before letting go of his bowstring. As if he had been in deep thought and practicing his archery being just an excuse.

Takeru shrugged.

"There you are, Ryunosuke!" he hollered as Ryunosuke suddenly jerked and accidentally shot his arrow towards the sky.

Ryunosuke stared towards the sky in bewilderment before turning towards Takeru.

"Tono! What are you doing here?" he cried as Takeru walked towards him in anger.

"What am I doing? What are YOU doin—!"

Suddenly Ryunosuke pushed Takeru aside as he used his other arm holding the bow to deflect his now falling arrow towards another direction. Still alarmed, he gave Takeru a reproachful look.

"That's dangerous, Tono!" he cried as Mako, Chiaki and Kotoha arrived at the dojo.

"What happened?" exclaimed Mako as both of them turned their attention towards the three.

"Something wrong, Ryuu-san?" asked Kotoha as Chiaki eyed both of them.

Ryunosuke blinked at them before letting his grip on Takeru loosen. He frowned.

"Why are all of you here?"

Chiaki folded his arms together before making his dissatisfaction heard.

"Why did you lied and skipped training and went here instead?" Takeru snapped aloud as Ryunosuke turned towards him and bowed apologetically.

"I apologize, Tono. But I don't want to make you worry." Ryunosuke explained before turning to face the others. "Or any of you as well. It's just—Aaah! That hurts, Tono!" he cried as Takeru suddenly grabbed his right shoulder.

Giving Takeru an abused look, he whined.

"It's just that... I wanted to make sure of something. _But it seemed I've worried for nothing since I can still use my right arm properly and my sight was still fine..."_ muttered Ryunosuke under his breath before wincing a little.

"Is your arm all right now, Ryuu-san?" Kotoha asked as Ryunosuke shrugged.

"It's not fully healed yet but at least I've regained my arm strength back. But really, all of you shouldn't have to come here all the way..."

Chiaki shrugged. "We're not that worried though... but then someone had insisted—" he said as Ryunosuke cast a glance towards Takeru. Chiaki sighed.

"Well... considering we're already here, we might as well train over here instead! It's nice to do something else other than kata practice... Kotoha! Nee-san! Let's go find something around here that we can use!" he cried, dragging Mako and Kotoha away as some of the Kuroko followed behind to assist them.

Ryunosuke tried to call them back but they have already left. Sighing, he went back collecting the stray arrows that had been all over the place to resume his own training.

Takeru watched him silently as he stood at the sidelines.

"It seemed over here you've not just been doing some archery training but something else as well."

Ryunosuke turned to face him as he cast him a questioning look. Takeru rolled his eyes at him.

"I didn't remember you to have missed your intended targets. I thought you're always good with bows and arrows. Were your injuries still bothering you?"

Ryunosuke gave him a look of surprise before sighing in defeat.

"As expected of Tono, I know I won't be able to escape your eyes." said Ryunosuke as he took his position and took an arrow out. He readied his bow before slowly drawing the bowstring apart.

"It's true that I've been doing a lot of thinking here aside from target practice." he said softly as Ryunosuke released the bowstring promptly. The arrow flew swiftly as it hit the target squarely at the middle. Ryunosuke lowered his bow before looking towards Takeru.

"But what I had been thinking about was nothing of importance. You do not have to worry about that, Tono."

Takeru took a moment to think before finally speaking.

"We never manage to talk things properly... since that day." he started to say. "I wonder... if you ever blamed me for that. Because of my own weakness, you and Kotoha were hurt badly."

Ryunosuke paused in his action as he was about to take out another arrow. He stared straight towards Takeru in disbelief.

"Why would you think about that, Tono?" Ryunosuke exclaimed aloud. "If there's anyone who should have been apologizing, it's me!"

Now it was Takeru's turn to be surprised as Ryunosuke fidgeted. "Perhaps because I'm not good with expressing my thoughts... or the way I had been brought up, that what I've said might have offended you in some way. For that, I'm deeply sorry."

Takeru stared at him strangely before remembering the incident during their last training. That day when he had suddenly snapped at them. Before _that_ happened.

"Oh... _that_. It's okay..." said Takeru, suddenly self-conscious about it. "That must have given all of you such a surprise. I've never snapped so much like that to you guys before..."

"_I had to agree about that..."_ Ryunosuke said softly.

Takeru glanced sideways towards him.

"Was that why you went out of your way to research about the possible combination of Shinken-Oh and Daitenku? As an apology? Despite your own injuries to worry about?"

Ryunosuke blinked towards him before realizing what he meant.

"Oh, that? No, I did that because I thought... considering you went away for a while, perhaps I could do something to help support you. It's not like I could sit tight while people all around me were worrying about you."

Ryunosuke shrugged as he kept focusing his attention towards one of his arrows that he had been holding. He looked up towards Takeru before smiling weakly.

"Kotoha helped a little. And Jii-san as well. I wouldn't be able to do all that and finding the right Moji for the combination all by myself."

"And in the end, all that work paid off... isn't it?" said Takeru nonchalantly as Ryunosuke admitted. Both of them suddenly went quiet as Ryunosuke fiddled with his bow.

"You know... it's not like I had done all that in a short time. That gattai... had been bothering me a long time before this. It's just... because of this incident, I had to rush to complete the idea. I mean... Tono, it's not really troublesome to me..."

Takeru nervously laugh at that. "Yeah, I suppose. I'm sorry if it _did_ troubled you." _Seriously, Ryunosuke... that still did not clear my conscience at all!_

Ryunosuke coughed out loud uncomfortably.

"Tono... may I speak about something?" he suddenly asked as Takeru straightened up. "Did you know or had anyone told you about Heike Monogatari before?"

Takeru blinked. _Why did Ryunosuke suddenly brought this up?_

"Err... I guess, I heard a bit about it in the past. But I don't know much about it in detail..." said Takeru, slightly embarrassed about it. Considering the fact that Jii had often tried to make him sit all through the whole story and he himself always finding ways to wiggle out of that situation...

Ryunosuke sighed in relief. "Then you must have at least known the story about Minamoto no Yoshitsune-sama and Saito Musashibo Benkei-sama."

Takeru nodded his head. "What about it?"

"Do you remember how Benkei-sama ended up becoming Yoshitsune-sama's retainer?"

Takeru frowned.

"It's because... Yoshitsune defeated him in a swordfight?" he answered, cautiously as Ryunosuke nodded.

"That is correct." said Ryunosuke as Takeru heaved a sigh of relief. Lucky he had at least picked up something regarding that topic.

"But Tono, why do you think that Benkei-sama decided to serve Yoshitsune-sama? Was it just because Yoshitsune-sama had defeated him?" he said again as Takeru shrugged. Ryunosuke smiled.

"My personal thoughts had been... that Benkei-sama had decided there and then, that Yoshitsune-sama would be the rightful master that he could serve. It's because of the qualities that he has seen of Yoshitsune-sama that Benkei-sama decided to pledge his loyalties to the Lord."

"So what of it?" Takeru asked.

Ryunosuke laughed, slightly embarrassed.

"Tono, I may not be as great as Benkei-sama... and may have a lot more to learn before becoming a great samurai as him; but I believed that my feelings were similar to Benkei-sama. Like his devotion towards Lord Yoshitsune, I too find that Tono is the one and only master that I would like to serve. Because of that, I hope that you would understand my feelings. Tono is an important person that could defeat the Gedoshu once and for all. And for that, as well as for everyone; I would like to protect you with all my power. And if you needed any help, I wouldn't mind helping you with the best of my ability. That's why... you shouldn't have worried about that. I sincerely would like to be of utmost service to you."

"Ryunosuke... you shouldn't say it that far—"

"It was the same for you, wasn't it? That time... after Kotoha and I have fallen from the blast, you have jumped before us in order to protect both Kotoha and me. I had been slightly conscious at that time but I definitely noticed it. You did that, didn't you?"

Takeru bit his lips before nodding his head slowly.

"That's why I've decided to really serve you, Tono. Because Tono is Tono."

Takeru shifted uncomfortably.

"B-but, that doesn't mean that you could throw your life away recklessly for me!"

Ryunosuke laughed. "Of course I won't, Tono."

Takeru chuckled nervously. _Why did Ryunosuke always make things appear so serious...?_

"Other than that, Ryunosuke... can you at least lighten up a bit? Like yesterday... it surprised me a bit that you could even get excited like that. It's kind of refreshing... a bit."

As sudden as Takeru's random statement, so does the change in Ryunosuke's features as his cheeks flushed red.

"T-that... that was unsightly of me! Tono, please forget that you've seen me behaving as such—"

"What are you talking about? It's not that bad..."

"B-but!"

"JA-JANNN!"

Chiaki suddenly appeared of nowhere, followed by Mako and Chiaki. Both Takeru and Ryunosuke froze as they stared blankly at them. Takeru quickly let go of Ryunosuke's arm as he shifted slightly away from him.

"What were you two doing?" Chiaki asked suspiciously as both of them shook their heads.

"N-nothing! We did nothing aside from just talking—and what were YOU guys been doing all this time?" Ryunosuke stuttered back at him as Chiaki shrugged.

"We had been looking over some stuff to practice with... but nee-san and Kotoha kept disagreeing with what I suggested so I thought to come back here to ask both of your opinions."

Takeru was about to open his mouth as Ryunosuke immediately cut him off.

"What kind of silly things you thought of? You can't possibly take random things and practice with it out of random! Even if I had been target practicing myself!" said Ryunosuke as Mako had to agree. Without saying anything more, Ryunosuke took out his Shodophone and started writing out the Moji representing the weapons that the Shinken arsenal had been based on and gave them to each of them.

"Here... practice with these if you insist so much to stay here. Considering that each of you should be familiar with these already, it shouldn't pose any problem for you."

"Aah... as expected from Ryunosuke! It never crossed my mind to do that—" Chiaki said as Mako slapped his head, saying that the fact that he still tend to mix up his strokes while writing his Kanji; it would not have worked for him. Ryunosuke laughed at him as Kotoha thanked him for the item she received. Seeing everyone together, prompted Takeru to join them as they finally started on their training for the day.

And somewhere nearby, Kusakabe Hikoma walked away smiling.

xxx

Finally retrieving the peace he had earlier, Ryunosuke resumed his kyudo practice...

"And you know, Ryunosuke... I didn't find that you're annoying _all_ the time. Just sometimes."

Ryunosuke paused a bit to ponder about Takeru's word when suddenly someone embraced him tightly from behind. He yelped, losing the grip he had of his arrow as Takeru grinned before whispering near his ears.

"I don't get it why you had to be so long-winded to explain your thoughts to me but I'm thankful of that. Thank you, for caring so much about me..."

Takeru released him as swiftly as his first _ambush_ of him, leaving Ryunosuke bewildered. Ryunosuke looked at him astonished; as Takeru played with his bokken again, smiling mischievously before muttering about _payback for hugging him so randomly earlier_. Seeing his Lord so cheerful, he cannot help but smile as well.

"Eh... Ryunosuke, what happened? Why was your aim so off over there?"

Chiaki suddenly exclaimed as Ryunosuke looked up towards the direction he was pointing. True enough, his arrow earlier was now stuck on top of a tree, piercing one of its almost ripe fruit. Immediately, Ryunosuke felt his ears getting warmer.

"Ryuu-san? Why are your ears becoming red?" Kotoha asked as well as Takeru continued to grin.

"I wonder why..." he said, before chuckling heartily.

[END]

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az: No funny thinking. *grins* I love my Takeru being a bully. No, I'm not even thinking yaoi there. It's a normal affectionate human relationship. XD.


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